The Party
by sedarephs
Summary: A game played on the celebratory party after Aizen’s defeat revealed Byakuya’s hidden feelings. Byakuya x Rukia, with a hint of Urahara x Shihoin.


**Disclaimer: The characters appearing in the following story are the properties of Kubo Tite.  
Pairing: Byakuya x Rukia, slight Urahara x Yoruichi  


* * *

  
**

The war was finally over.

It was a happy ending that no one expected or dared hope, but all were most pleasantly surprised. When the fighting commenced above the Karakura Town, none thought that the war would be ended right there and right then. All the captains and vice captains that join in the fight either in Karakura Town or in Hueco Mundo came out unscathed. Even Soi Fon's left arm, which was lost in her fight against the Sequnda Espada, Barragan Luisenbarn, was restored with the help of Inoue Orihime. The Hogyoku was later destroyed by combining the power of all the shinigamis and the Vizards. The destruction of Hogyoku was accompanied by the reversal of the hollowfication, therefore the hollows residing in the Vizards and Kurosaki Ichigo were all gone. The burden of controlling the hollows within was lifted and the greatest crisis that has ever threatened soul society ended with zero casualty. Balance was finally restored. It was indeed a miracle.

A party must be held.

It was agreed unanimously that a celebratory event such as this one must be orchestrated by the lieutenant of the 10th division. No one was to object to whatever recreation that the lieutenant came up with, and every single shinigami in the whole of the Seireitei must attend. No exception. For some mysterious reason it was thus decreed by Yamamoto-sotaicho. However, again, surprisingly, Matsumoto Rangiku organized a simple hanami as celebration. People were to gather in a large uninhabited area near the current location of the house of the Shiba Clan and enjoy sake while admiring flowers. Not even the critical and serious captain of the tenth division had anything to complain about such an ordinary plan, despite the fact that no flowers were blooming in October and the party was held in the evening.

But none could care less about flowers.

A party is a party, and what's important about a party, this party in particular, was relaxation from the stress and strain for the past few months, to appreciate the effort and hard work everyone had put in for the war. The shinigamis needed the relax atmosphere to reconnect with friends, with people one loved, to celebrate the joyful event that is to live.

Not to mention the sake.

* * *

People came to this party as friends and families instead of officers, subordinates. There was no seating arrangement, so people instinctively migrated towards people they're comfortable with, their nakama. That was why the main battle forces of the Gotei 13, Kurosaki and his friends from the world of the living were sitting close together near the center of the whole gathering. Everyone was relaxed and most were slightly drunk after two hours into the party.

Yamamoto-sotaicho had taken off his signature captain haori which was draped over his shoulder most of the time and bared his chest as he was having a heated drinking contest with Komamura Sajin, who had also taken off most of his armor and haori today and was wearing only his shinhakusho. Even more surprisingly Unohana Retsu was also a member of this drinking contest. She sat in all her glory while matching each drink with the same gusto but much more dignified than the men. More than ten large sake jugs scattered around them. No one dared approach the trio.

The fukutaicho of ninth squad were engaged in his own drinking contest with Madarame Ikkaku and several members of the eleventh squad. They were, without surprise, the loudest group in the drunken crowds, shouting obscenities every now and then. Yachiru was playfully spiking their drink with an odd assortment of hopefully non-harmful liquid. Ayasegawa Yumichika tried but failed miserably at stopping his fukutaicho from accidentally killing her subordinates.

* * *

"You drink like an old man, Renji" Ichigo said as he watched Renji chucked a cup of sake down his throat and let out a satisfying sigh.

"An old man? You drink like a school boy!! This is how a grown man drinks his sake." Renji countered while Rangiku poured him another one.

"That is because he IS a school boy." Uryu interjected, "Kurosaki, you are not supposed to drink, we're not 20 years old yet."

"Ishida-kun is right." Inoue said, "But seeing that even Toshiro-chan is drinking, and he's probably not even 12 years old…"

"I'M WELL OVER 50 YEARS OLD, AND STOP LAUGHING, MATSUMOTO!!" An indignant Hitsugaya Toshiro somehow overheard the comment and yelled at the top of his lung from where he was sitting with Kuchiki Byakuya and Ukitake Jushiro.

"Oh~ My~ Don't worry me, taicho-chan. You're all red in the face already. Children sure have less tolerance, ne?" A slightly tipsy Rangiku yelled back at him.

Toshiro stood up and made for his zanpakuto. Rangiku shunpoed away with Toshiro tailing after her, zanpakuto drawn.

"Toshiro-chan, uh, kun, is over 50 years old?" Inoue said in disbelief.

"You didn't know?" said Ichigo, "people here don't get old."

"That is not entirely correct." Rukia decided to clarify, "People who don't have spirit power in soul society don't need to drink or eat. They don't age and cannot have children either. They would not die unless by murder or illness. However, for those that have spirit power, like shinigamis or those that were born in Seireitei, we age at a slower rate than humans, and after growing into an age that is suitable for our own spirit, we will start aging at an even slower rate, giving us the appearance of not aging from a human's point of view. Yamamoto-sotaicho is well over one thousand years old and will live some more hundred years, I should think."

"Eh? Then, then, how old are you then Kuchiki-san?" Inoue asked, eyes wide.

"Rukia and I are about the same age, 'round 160." Renji said to an utterly dumbfounded Inoue then turned his head to Rukia, "That reminds me, how old is Kuchiki-taicho?"

"Nii-sama will have his two hundred and twentieth birthday celebration in two years." Rukia said, sneaking a peak at her brother who is drinking sake amiably with Ukitake Jushiro. "Why do you want to know anyway?"

"Nothing, it's just that I once heard from Ukitake-taicho and Kyoraku-taicho that taicho was quite short tempered and manipulative as hell when he was young." said Renji, "I wondered how long it took him to out grown it..."

"Byakuya is still short tempered now, isn't he? Remember the time when he simply destroyed the swimming pool built by the Shinigami Women's association immediately after seeing it? What kind of people do that? And he's definitely manipulative or maybe even better at it now considering how he prevented Rukia's promotion." Ichigo " I'm telling you, a spoilt brat will always be a spoilt..."

Ichigo felt his cheek connected with someone's foot before he could finish his sentence. He turned around and saw Rukia standing menacingly above him.

"What the hell was that for!" shouted Ichigo.

"No one slandered Nii-sama and came out alive in front of me." Rukia gave Ichigo a death glare.

"And that's Kuchiki-taicho for you." quipped Renji.

"You two really should start a Kuchiki Byakuya fan club." nursing his bruised cheek, Ichigo grumbled. "And it hurts you know."

"Speaking of which, I have never ever seen taicho drink sake before today." Renji ignored Ichigo, turning his head to follow Rukia's gaze, who also ignored Ichigo completely, and saw his taicho drank cup after cup of sake and actually smirked or almost smiled at something Shihoin Yoruichi said.

"I've seen Nii-sama partook in drinking at social occasions between the nobles families before, but I've never seen him drank this much." She observed her adopted brother's relax attitude towards Yoruichi.

Rukia admitted to herself that she envied Yoruichi, Kyoraku-taicho and her own taicho. Byakuya and they did not see eye to eye all the time, but he always was most comfortable and notably less cold when conversing with them. Although he appeared to be calm but Rukia knew that he was always quite tensed and guarded with her.

'Even Renji', Rukia thought bitterly, 'Nii-sama is more relaxed when with Renji than with me.'

"Hey, let's play a game." Rangiku returned from the chase, not a scratch on her.

"Rangiku-san, you're not hurt?" Inoue exclaimed.

"Taicho obviously drank more than recommended for children." Rangiku grinned wickedly.

"What do you have in mind?" Ichigo asked.

* * *

'The party is a successes' Ukitake Jushiro thought to himself as he looked around at the partying members.

Kyoraku was currently lying on the floor drinking while talking to Zaraki Kenpachi and Urahara Kisuke, who was snickering and fanning himself. Ukitake caught tidbits of their conversation and it comprised of women, women and women. They were comparing figures, temper, intellect, and decided that no wonder Ise Nanao considered her captain to be frivolous and annoying if he also talked like this in front of her. It was no surprise for him to hear Kyoraku talk so flippantly about women, he was, after all, his best friend, but he did not expect Urahara to be the same. Zaraki, although a blood lusting maniac in battle, was quite a peaceful person when it comes to sake. He was not as enthusiastic about the topic as the other two men, but he was obviously enjoying himself as well.

Shihoin Yoruichi and Soi Fon were also participants of the conversation. Yoruichi had always been an odd noble woman. She could act refined and aristocratic but people who knew her well all knew that she enjoyed a brawl more than any men, and from what he had heard of the conversation, most of the lewdest comments came from Yoruichi instead of either men present. Ukitake had to suppress a laugh when he noticed that Soi Fon obviously thought disapprovingly of some of the things that Yoruichi had said, but her idolization of Yoruichi made it impossible for her to accept that Yoruichi could be wrong. Her face was scrunched up and showing the struggle of trying to convert herself into believing Yoruichi's theories.

'Even Byakuya looks like he is enjoying himself.' Ukitake looked at the younger man next to him.

They were discussing the probable solutions of solving the current complex situation involving multiple captain and lieutenant level members returning to the Gotei 13 before Hitsugaya Toshiro took off to murder his fukutaicho. It was no chit-chat, but at least the atmosphere was relaxed. Now, Ukitake and Byakuya simply sat silently, enjoying the breeze while taking turns pouring each other sake. Byakuya's eyes were naturally drawn towards Rukia and witnessed her kicking Kurosaki Ichigo in the face, and he wondered momentarily about what Kurosaki had said that made her became so angry before hearing a familiar voice calling to him.

"Yo, Byakuya-bo"

"Shihoin Yoruichi."

"Oi! Byakushi, I see that you have not forgotten my name, or has your memory gotten so bad that you have to remind yourself who I am so that you won't forget?" Yoruichi just couldn't pass up any opportunity to tease Byakuya.

To Ukitake's utter astonishment, Byakuya smirked and replied.

"Not as old as an four hundred year old were-cat who forgets about her clothes every time she shape shifted." Yoruichi grinned.

"I thought that after all these years you would be used to seeing me naked, but apparently you're still too immature, eh? Maybe I should transform now..."

"No!" Byakuya said all too quickly, and he hated himself for it and pulled a face.

Both Ukitake and Yoruichi had not seen that face ever since Byakuya was no longer a teenager. It was a face that both recognized very well as when Byakuya was about to do something brash. Ukitake watched as Byakuya's right hand flexed reflexively for his zanpakuto, but years of practicing self control kicked in and his hand stopped midway, but he was obviously gritting his teeth. Ukitake decided at that moment that Byakuya must have one too many drink. However, Yoruichi seemed unfazed and even satisfied with Byakuya's reaction.

"Ukitake, do you mind giving us a moment?"

Ukitake suddenly noticed that Soi Fon did not follow Yoruichi here as she was wont to do. He decided that she must have something very important to discuss with Byakuya, so he nodded and went to join Kyoraku. Byakuya gave Yoruichi a glare, but recognizing what she had to say must be significant, he reined in his anger and said.

"What is it that you want to speak to me about that you have to send Ukitake-senpai away?" he failed to keep all his venom from his tone.

"What are you saying? I must have an ulterior motive to speak with my favorite pupil?" Yoruichi extended her hand itching to ruffle Byakuya's hair but was swatted away.

"Hahahaha, tell me, did you decide to keep your hair down because you're tired of me pulling out your ribbon, Byakuya-bo?" She took a sip directly from the jug of sake.

"Don't flatter yourself, Shihoin." Byakuya could not hide his smile completely. He felt the unfamiliar pull of his facial muscle, and blamed it on the sake. He had not had so much to drink for a very long time.

"Are you ever going to get married again?"

It was all Byakuya could do to not choke on his drink. He flipped his head sharply toward her and saw that she was now serious.

"You must realize that you need to provide an heir." Yoruichi continued, "Soul society really does not need to be thrown into chaos again because you're dead and the Kuchikis war between themselves for the position as the head, and you know better than anyone that no one has a rightful claim."

To be reminded of his duty as the head of the Kuchiki clan from someone like her, someone who left the Shihoin clan to chaos one hundred years ago. In fact, simply the fact that it was Yoruichi was enough reason for him to become angry. He strangled Yoruichi in her cat form in his head.

"Byakuya! Are you listening to me?" Yoruichi brought him out of his fantasy, "Those good for nothing old bones from the Kuchiki elders will tear Seireitei apart just to get your money. Do you understand?"

"Of course." Byakuya said irritatedly, "But I have no interest in..."

"Yare, yare, Byakushi, you're not interested in women anymore?" Yoruichi interjected.

This time, Byakuya went onto one knee, left thumb pushing Senbonzakura out of its scabbard, right hand poised to draw.

"Watch your mouth, Shihoin, otherwise the Shihoins will find themselves without the clan head." Byakuya said hotly and menacingly.

"Hahahaha" Yoruichi threw her head back and laughed, "I'm glad to see that I can still get a rise out of you."

There was a moment of silence as she suddenly looked afar and turned serious.

"If she was so important to my stubborn, thick-headed little protege, she must be an incredible women." Her voice laced with sincerity, but Byakuya said nothing, simply sat down on the floor again.

"But you know you could simply choose a noble woman, bed her to produce an heir. Get it over and done with. There seems to be an overabundance of women who wants you in their bed." Back to her teasing tone again.

There was a pregnant pause before Byakuya replied in a carefully controlled tone.

"I certainly will not let the mother of the future Kuchiki head be someone that I do not respect or even want to acknowledge."

To everyone else, the pause meant nothing. To everyone else, Byakuya would appear to be arrogant after making that statement. But he was talking to Shihoin, the one person who knew him ever since he was a baby. She immediately caught on and realized that he was trying to hide something. All it took was a second for her to arrive at the conclusion.

"To think that I was worried about you. You're in love."

Yoruichi was not speaking in a particularly loud voice, but unfortunately for Byakuya, it was one of those occasions when the partying crowd coincidentally reached a harmonious stop in their noise-making activities, and one single sentence made in that instance would ring louder than shouting at the top of one's lung at any other point. Everyone close to the pair of nobles heard what Yoruichi had said, and those people included all the taichos, fukutaichos and the gang from Karakura Town.

* * *

They were playing truth or dare.

Truth or dare. Of all the games, Matsumoto chose the most ordinary one and instead of people coming up with questions or dares of their own, Matsumoto provided a list of questions and dares written out in decks of cards for the players to randomly picked from. The groups of humans and shinigamis were afraid that Matsumoto would write down the most personal and embarrassing questions or quests possible in the world, but were quite stunned when they realized that the cards contained mostly mundane requests by Matsumoto's standards. Kira Izuru even asked Matsumoto if anything was wrong, but she simply laughed and said that she did not have the heart to put stress upon anyone today.

The first round of the game was rather mild with the occasionally slightly disgusting dares, such as drinking sake with one's nose. Hisagi Shuhei suffered quite a bit from that one. He struggled for breath and choked through the whole ordeal, when offered sake as consolation, he blanched for a second before forcefully grabbing the jug from Kira and downed the thing in one impressive gulp.

Ichigo also picked out the card from the truth deck and was asked how often he masturbate. His answer drew cat calls from Matsumoto and was patted on the back by the male members of the party. Inoue picked dare and was asked to kiss a member of the same sex. Her kiss with Rangiku made every male participants in the game shifted uncomfortably in their seat. Rukia picked truth for the first round and was asked who was her first crush. She could barely look at Renji when she answered his name. Kira was forced to admit that he was in love with Hinamori Momo and was currently suffering from from the chilling glares that shoot icy daggers at him from Hitsugaya Toshiro who finally returned from his excursion. Before the second round started, the party quieting down after Matsumoto's declaration of the list of men that she fantasized about, they heard Yoruichi's statement.

"Did you hear that?" said Ichigo.

"Of course I heard that, I'm not deaf you know." Renji replied, still irritated from having to kiss a man from the dare. He had roughly grabbed the nearest man sitting next to him, Uryu, and pecked him on the lips sloppily.

"What do you think it means?" asked Ichigo.

"Are you a moron or something?" Uryu rolled his eyes, also quite annoyed at Ichigo who was sitting right next to Renji before disappearing from Renji the moment he heard the dare.

"That's not what I meant." Ichigo said, "Who do you think Byakuya love? That is if he is capable of human emotion..."

"I have to agree with you on that one though. He's usually such a cold fish." Renji interjected.

"I told you that no disrespecting Nii-sama in from of me. Take that back!!" Rukia slapped both of their heads.

"Calm down, calm down." Renji held up his hands, "Do you have any idea who the person is anyway."

"..." Rukia was suddenly in a very bad mood, "No."

'It's not like Nii-sama ever tell her anything.' Rukia thought sadly.

* * *

"Shut up you stupid were-cat." Yoruichi would almost describe Byakuya's voice as whining.

"So it's true then." she said triumphantly, "Well, this is much simpler than I originally thought. All you have to do is ask her to marry you and preferably give you a child."

"It is not as simple as you thought."

"What are you talking about? Of course it's simple." Yoruichi said, "No one in their right mind would not marry a Kuchiki. Or do you need me to teach you EVERYTHING? I thought you were married once."

"Right back at you. Considering that I was married once, while you never had. I should think that my words carry more weight than yours." Byakuya countered.

"Don't give me that, if you love her, and hopefully it's a her," Ignoring the deadly glare she earned from Byakuya, "you should just grab her and show her how hard..."

"Stop!" Yoruichi sighed.

"Well, are you a Kuchiki or not?" She suddenly asked.

"Of course, what does that have to do with anything anyway."

"You don't get it, do you? Let me show you how it is done."

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!!!" Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and whirled their heads to look at the dark skinned noble woman.

"Kisuke and I are engaged." Everyone whirled their heads to look at the ex-captain of the twelfth division.

"Eh??" Thousands of question marks floated above Urahara's head. "We....are?"

Yoruichi spared a glance at him and Urahara sweat dropped.

"Ah... Of course, of course WE ARE!" Urahara said fanning himself and nodded enthusiastically.

"The wedding will be held in three months." Yoruichi declared then sat down facing Byakuya again, "That, is how you go about it."

* * *

"Urahara was scared to death ." Ichigo said, "But Yoruichi-san certainly got style. What if Urahara refused?"

"No one refused the hand of the four great houses anyway." Renji said

Rukia watched as her nii-sama engaged in another glaring contest with Yoruichi while drinking even more sake. Byakuya was certainly more worked up than she had ever seen. She was rudely nudged by Renji, bringing her back to the table of people playing truth or dare. It was her turn again, after the first round was finished, Rukia thought to herself that she would rather eat soba with her nose than answer some of the questions. She gingerly picked up the top most card of the dare deck, and read the instruction out loud.

"French kiss a member of the opposite sex for one minute."

"Oh~ Rukia-chan, who will be the lucky man tonight?" Rangiku grinned at her, "Ichigo?"

"Oi!! She's ten times older than I am, older than my great great grand mother!!!" Ichigo shouted indignantly.

Rukia gave her less than supportive nakama an evil glare.

"Renji?" Matsumoto supplied, "You said he was your first crush."

Renji scratched his head and smiled somewhat timidly at her. Rukia thought that expression did not suit her best friend at all.

"Well if you must..." Did he have to make it sound like a sacrifice?

"Or someone else not at this table will do as well. Someone more mature maybe? Like Ukitake-taicho? He is very hot too." Matsumoto said cheekily, but Rukia shook her head quickly.

She considered the men around her. If it were just a small peck than Ichigo or Renji would do well, after all, they were her most trusted friends and nakama. But Ichigo was right, although over a hundred years of difference was nothing in soul society, but she simply could not bring herself to french kiss someone that was practically a child's age in soul society. Besides, Ichigo and her were much more like siblings and she highly doubted that Inoue would be pleased. Uryu and Chad were out of the question for the same reason as Ichigo. Hitsugaya Toshiro was older age-wise but he definitely did not look the part. Kira already confessed that he was in love with Momo while something just didn't feel right with Hisagi Shuhei for her.

Ukitake-taicho was certainly a very handsome man but he was too much like a father to her, and the thought of passionately kissing him just made her ill. Some of the taichos were not even worth considering. For a brief moment she indulged herself thinking about her nii-sama but quickly sobered up knowing that he would considered it to be highly improper.

That left Renji. She had never been kissed. A long time ago Rukia was sure that her first kiss would have been Renji's, but she was no longer in love with him anymore, and did not want to give a wrong impression. They both knew how painful it was for Renji to let go of her because it took the same amount of effort for her, and she most certainly did not want him to go through that painful process once more, but then Renji decided for her. His face was inching close to her and Rukia finally closed her eyes to surrender herself to the twisted fate.

**BANG!**

Renji was thrown onto the table breaking it in the process. The resounding thud turned every head.

But Rukia paid no attention at all to the commotion around her, all she could feel was the soft gentle lips upon hers. She felt the man's arms enveloped her. He broke the kiss momentarily and she took a breath, breathing in the familiar scent of Kuchiki Byakuya. Surprised, Rukia opened her eyes and looked into his slate gray eyes. Letting out a small gasp, she stared at him in shock and his lips descended upon hers once more. This time with passion.

He licked her lips before sliding his tongue into her mouth, tasting her, caressing her, stroking her, all the while roaming his hands exploring her body. Rukia let out a moan as she felt his thumb ran through the underside of her breast, and before she knew it, Byakuya had pushed her onto her back and leaning over her. Not knowing what to do, she placed her hands on his chest, neither pushing him away or drawing him near her. Drowning in the kiss.

After what seemed like an eternity, they broke apart surfacing for the much needed air. Byakuya had placed one hand on the ground to support himself from crushing into Rukia, and his other hand came up to brush softly against her cheek. He gazed deeply into Rukia's violet eyes and leaned down to whisper against her ear.

"All I want is you, Rukia." He licked of her ear seductively.

Then he proceeded to kiss her senseless once more. The onslaught of sensation blinded Rukia and she bunched up her hands in his shinhakusho, as if holding onto her dear life. Byakuya's lips trailed hot kisses against her jaw then down her throat, nuzzling her neck for a moment breathing in her intoxicating scent. She meowed softly at the sensation which spurred him to lick at her pulse point and started sucking, determined to leave a mark. His left hand slid down her body burning her along the way hindered only by her clothing and finally reached her calf before lifting her left leg to wrap around his waist. He was more than pleased when he felt she wrapped her right leg around his waist as well and rewarded her by applying a slight pressure against Rukia's pelvis. They both let out a moan when his growing desire pushed against her core.

The pair was oblivious to anything else but each other. But the spell was broken when Rukia felt Byakuya's hand reached for the sash of her shinhakusho, wanting desperately to relieve her of her clothing so he can caress her bare skin. She suddenly remembered whom she was kissing and where they were.

"Nii-sama..." Rukia said and felt Byakuya froze on top of her.

He lifted his eyes to look at her and saw that her lips were swollen from her kiss and she was panting from her own desire. He then noticed the people around them staring unabashedly at them. He sat up suddenly, bringing Rukia with him so that she's straddling him. Her face burning with complete embarrassment, keeping her eyes downcast. Not knowing where to place her hand, she let them fall by her side. Glancing at Byakuya out of the corner of her eyes she saw that he was looking at the people surrounding them with disdain and felt his arms tightened around her waist possessively.

"Yare, yare, Byakuya-kun, you're certainly full of surprise..." Kyoraku was the first to break the heavy silence.

"Congratulations, Kuchiki-san, Kuchiki-taicho." The voice of her captain made her look up in disbelief at the grinning face of Ukitake Jushiro.

She then saw Renji lying in the midst of the remains of a table with pieces of broken sake jugs and cups around him. His mouth was hanging open and there was a stunned look in his eyes.

"Taicho? Rukia? What just happened?"

"Did you hit your head and not see? Maybe we should ask them for a repeat performance." Matsumoto winked at the pair, "That was smoking hot, by the way. Both of you. You shouldn't have stopped."

"YEW!" Ichigo protested.

"Hum...to think that your sick noble ass wanted to bang your own sister all this time." Kenpachi commented and motioned for Yachiru, "Come Yachiru, this is not healthy."

"Aww, stop with the mental image already." Ichigo looked disgusted.

Byakuya looked insulted at being called sick by Zaraki Kenpachi. His reiatsu flared and stood up, taking care to place Rukia down gently.

"It is no concern of yours, and I do not want to waste my breath with the likes of you, but know that Rukia was adopted and we never had a sibling like relationship." Kenpachi burst out laughing.

"No, I can see that you're MUCH more than siblings." Byakuya wanted to draw blood but was stopped by Yoruichi.

"Now, now, stop with the teasing Zaraki." She turned toward Byakuya and smirked, "I'm glad that you took my advice to heart, but you didn't have to do it in front of everyone you know, the bit about grabbing the woman and show her how..."

"SHUT UP." Byakuya's vein visibly popped. The uncharacteristic stunning everyone present.

He scooped Rukia up and shunpoed away without a second word. Seeing that the Kuchikis were out of sight, Urahara looked at Yoruichi and said.

"You won." handing Yoruichi a wad of money.

"I knew he cared a lot about her." Yoruichi tucked the money away, "All I needed was to get him drunk and push a couple of buttons."

"So you got Yamamoto to order everyone to attend and drink." Urahara hid both their faces behind his fan and spoke conspiratorially, "Tell me what was it that you used to threaten the old man?"

"No." Yoruichi smiled triumphantly.

Urahara sighed disappointed.

"You supplied the cards for the game as well?"

"Of course I did. The deck was filled with opportunities for Byakuya to show his true face." Yoruichi said carelessly, "He was incredibly possessive after all."

"I am awed by your presence." Then he suddenly remembered something.

"You proposal to me was a ruse to egg Kuchiki-taicho on?"

"Of course."

"So our wedding is..." Urahara said almost too brightly

"Still on."

"..." Urahara shrunk away

"Do you have anything against it?" Yoruichi glared, daring him.

"Well, it's just that..." Urahara mumbled, "I really liked my name..."

"I think Shihoin Kisuke has a much better ring." Yoruichi patted him on his back and walked away.

* * *

Rukia could not meet her brother's gaze ever since he brought her back to the Kuchiki estate. The servants had brought tea and they were now sitting on the veranda outside of her room sipping tea in uncomfortable silence. She remembered what he had whispered in her ears, that he wanted her, and she shifted nervously. She had wanted him in the heat of that moment as well, her body responded betraying her rational thoughts. It was true that she had always admired him and wanted to become closer to him, but before tonight, she had never entertained the possibilities of anything besides acknowledgment from him.

'That was not entirely true.' Rukia thought to herself, 'I thought about kissing my brother tonight when face with the choice to kiss a man. Perhaps in some way, I've wanted something more intimate from him.'

Byakuya looked at the mark he left on her neck and felt an urge to trace his lips against her soft skin again, but he repressed it. He had known that he wanted her for a very long time. When the eyes of Hisana in his dream turned a shade of the most beautiful violet he has ever seen, when Hisana became lively and acted almost tom-boyishly, he knew, and that was decades ago, several years after Rukia was adopted into the family. He did not want her to know and the constant worry that he might expose himself made him distant and tense around her. It annoyed him to no end, but he knew that without the heavy drinking and Yoruichi's words, he would have let Renji kiss her right in front of his eyes and only bled in his heart in secret. He could not help but be glad that it did not happen.

"I apologized for being drunk and out of control tonight, embarrassing you, but at least now you know." Byakuya gently took her hand and laced his hand with hers, "How I feel about you."

"Nii-sama," Rukia said uncertainly. "I don't know what to do."

"You don't have to do anything." His other hand lifted her face and commanded. "Look at me."

She looked at him then. His chiseled face was perfectly serene and that calmed her nerves as well.

"All that I request of you now, is for you to give me a chance." Byakuya said softly when he saw that she visibly relaxed, "A chance to your heart."

"As much as I want to make you mine," Rukia blushed and saw that Byakuya's eyes darkened, "I will let you dance freely this time."

"If you found that you cannot return my feelings," there was a tightness in his voice that made Rukia tightened her hand that was laced with him, "I will find a way to tolerate whoever you choose to love, because I love you."

Rukia could not find her voice and Byakuya only smiled tenderly at her.

"You are tired, now go to bed." Byakuya stood up, helping Rukia up as well.

"Good night, nii-sama." And she saw he shook his head and corrected herself, "Byakuya-sama"

Byakuya thought he had never heard anything more beautiful, and Rukia found herself being pulled into a gentle embrace.

"Good night, Rukia" He pulled away and left her standing there gazing after him. Her heart going with his retreating form.

A successive loud explosive noises came from afar and Rukia turned to look at the beautiful Shiba fireworks blossoming above the sky.

_Fins._

_

* * *

  
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**Author's note:  
Well, Yoruichi might be able to manipulate Byakuya, but Byakuya certainly knows how to manipulate Rukia.  
**

**This is my second try attempt at writing in English. It turned out to be somewhat long winded and not as lighthearted as I set it out to be. Hopefully the Byakuya x Rukia fans can still find some enjoyment in this piece. Reviews are most welcomed, but no flames, please. Cheers.** **BTW, in case any of you were wondering the legal drinking age in Japan is 20.**


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